Toyota Supra To Debut in Geneva

The 2018 Geneva Motor Show, two months hence, will serve to intoduce the production Toyota Supra into the world. Rather, not the Toyota Supra, but the Gazoo Racing Supra; Toyota's new hi-po sportscar will retail under Gazoo Racing branding, after Toyota knighted Gazoo as the automaker's performance arm last year. According to Auto Express, the Supra will come in four trims: Supra, Supra GR, Supra GR Sport, and Supra GRMN (GRMN stands for Gazoo Racing tuned by Meisters of the Nürburgring). The report says a "significant gap in performance and price" and different suspension tunes are likely from bottom to top.

Last year, a leaked document made Supra watchers suspect three BMW-derived engines would serve the four-trim Supra range: the BMW 20i, 2.0-liter, turbocharged four-cylinder; the more powerful BMW 30i, 2.0-liter, turbocharged four-cylinder; and the BMW 40i, 3.0-liter inline six-cylinder. Commenters suspected that only the two most powerful engines would come to the U.S.

The latest intel, however, says that all versions will come with an inline six-cylinder engine sending all its grunt to the back wheels. That would align with statements from Gazoo Racing president Shigeki Tomoyama, who said, "The new car has to appeal to the existing owners first. The old cars had a straight-six engine, twin turbos and rear-wheel drive; the new car must have the same philosophy." The known benchmarks for the Supra, the BMW M3 and M4, and Porsche 911, lend more credence to the idea of six-cylinder exclusivity.

All-wheel drive and a hybrid powertrain might appear down the road, but it looks like a manual transmission will not. We're in the dark on the weight - many seem hopeful that the hardtop-only coupe will come in under 3,300 pounds - but we've been promised 50/50 weight distribution. A thorough aftermarket parts program is already in the works. There'll be a lengthy span between reveal and retail purchases, though – Supra deliveries might not begin until 2019.

What made the original MK4 so epic was the relatively scarce competition. Now with so many cars that are affordable with good performance, this may not be as legendary as the MK4.

It had quite a bit of competition I recall. Mazda RX-7, Acura NSX, Nissan 300ZX, Mitsubishi 3000GT ... and that's just the Japanese competition. I will say out of those, the Supra had the most potent engine.

I'll believe it when I see it. This is the 4th or 5th time I've seen these automotive blogs claim that the production model Supra will be unveiled at an upcoming auto show, then they later backtrack with an excuse of some delay, or that only the concept will be on display. It's been far too long, and I'm getting bored. It feels like a 5 year old car already, and I haven't even seen the production model yet. The Toyota FT-HS concept (Supra) was first shown in 2007! Chew on that for a bit. They show the same concept car every year. Get with the program Toyota! It better be perfect with a 10 year development time.